Abstract
This presentation proposes a way to integrate Self Psychological and Relational models of therapeutic action. It argues that consistently approaching patients through the practice of Kohut’s empathy evokes a “leading edge” transference that opens or begins the treatment and guides the overall process. It also facilitates the emergence of impasses outlined by Mitchell, at a time and in a context in which they can be constructively addressed in a transformative way. This constructive addressing of impasse opens up the treatment relationship beyond a selfobject tie so that it becomes more fluid and multi-faceted. Winnicott’s “leading edge” ideas about destruction, survival, and “breakdown” are used to further elaborate this Self-Relational integration.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this presentation, participants will be able to:
1. Identify “leading edge” aspects of patients’ experience and intentions as they emerge in clinical material.
2. Apply clinical interventions that support and validate patients’ movement toward their leading-edge aspirations.
3. Recognize “trailing-edge” dynamics in the patient–therapist relationship, including conditions under which these dynamics become more salient in the therapeutic interaction.
4. Implement clinical strategies to address trailing-edge relational dynamics in ways that support therapeutic progress.
Biography
Peter Kaufmann, PhD is a faculty member and supervisor at the Institute for
Psychoanalytic Studies and Supervision (IPSS) and the National Institute for the
Psychotherapies (NIP), and serves as co-coordinator of IPSS’s four-year training program. His clinical and scholarly interests focus on comparative psychoanalysis and the integration of clinical approaches across theoretical traditions, particularly Self Psychology and Relational psychoanalysis.
He has published several papers reflecting this integrative orientation, including When empathy opens (2023), as well as Working with men who please too much (2008) and On transforming the reparative quest (2012), which also reflect his interest in mourning and pathological accommodation. In collaboration with Jenny Kaufmann, he has written recent papers and presentations on emerging from the shadows of parental narcissism. His current work explores the creative role of playful assertion and aggression in therapy, developed in his forthcoming paper, On being the edgy alter ego.
References
Kaufmann, P. (2023). September 11th revisited: Break on through to the other side. Psychoanalysis, Self and Context, 18, 552–558.
Kaufmann, J., & Kaufmann, P. (2023). Big moves toward integration: Sheldon Bach’s framework for the treatment of narcissistic disorders. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 40(1), 20–24.
Stern, S. (2024). Breathing together: Needed relationships and complex selfobjects. Psychoanalysis, Self and Context, 19(3), 274–302.
